KIRKUS REVIEW

The
apocalypse goes viral in the sequel to the gorefest Dead of Night (2011)
as a viral outbreak and a hurricane wreak havoc on Stebbins, Pennsylvania.

Less
a sequel than just another chapter in the large-scale zombie-infested world
drawn by Maberry (Fire & Ash, 2013, etc.), this bloody, violent and
testosterone-filled epic still teeters on the verge of parody, style-wise, but
remains popcorn-shoveling awesome for fans of George Romero and The Evil
Dead. To recap, a mad scientist created a virus called Lucifer 113 as a
punishment for serial killer Homer Gibbon, the “patient zero” of the outbreak.
Police officer Desdemona Fox is protecting survivors in a small school along
with online hack Billy Trout. After already attacking the school once, the White
House has ordered a media blackout as authorities deal with a superstorm and
contemplate dropping thermobaric bombs to wipe out everyone. Meanwhile, the
resurrected Gibbon is spreading the faith in his own way, terrifying Trout’s
partner Goat Weinman. “I done this,” he says. “This plague thing. It ain’t no
bioweapon like they’re saying on the radio. It was me that done this. The black
eye opened in my mind and now I speak with the voice of the red mouth.” Most of
the action stays with Desdemona, Homer or the White House, but Maberry also
drops in gruesome but sometimes-humorous vignettes with secondary characters,
always ratcheting up the gore factor to cartoonish levels. In an interesting
choice, the novel also introduces a character who ties the series neatly
together with Maberry’s YA series, Rot
and Ruin. It’s all a bit over-the-top, but the vast scope of the novel
makes for a satisfying contrast to the smaller-scale portrayals of similar
catastrophes in The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later.

The
end of the world as we know it, complete with 24-style dialogue and
enough oozy bits to make Tom Savini queasy.

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